SWITCH

Chapter 4 - Questions

It's almost the month of March and Jeongkook keeps learning and preparing for the ceremony. In the past few days, he had seen more books than he had seen in his entire college years. Now he's starting to regret that he got into this adventure... Almost, because he gets to see Chaeyoung every day...

He keeps thinking about her words, "You must think that we are doing it because of love..., but it was never my choice... and your brother, he's an asshole!"

"Is something wrong with my face?", Is there something wrong with my face? Chaeyoung, who was writing something on her laptop, asked him, sensing his gaze.

"No, it's perfect, I just... What does it mean "to make the bond both physical and spiritual"... Do I need to sacrifice something in this ceremony or what?"

She glanced at him from her place, "You need to change the book, you are not reading the right one..."

"Ah... But still, what does that mean?", he asked curiously

"It's a marriage ritual made by the Sages consisting of two parts, the spiritual one - that changes the form of marks and the physical one - the first night of the couple, or in other words they have sex...", she answered nonchalantly, her eyes glued to the screen of her laptop.

"If we are still on this topic... how do you get your mark, don't you have to fall in love first?", he kept asking to feed his curiosity

"It doesn't matter, your mark can appear at any time... your father and Ari got their marks at the age of twenty, but they fell in love with each other first... Being a future king, your father asked the Sages to do the ritual that invoices the soulmate mark...", she explained patiently, although her patience was a the verge to disappear.

"They can do that?", he said in a surprised voice

"They can do a lot of things, they can even remove it... ",

"Aren't they supposed to unite the soulmates? like the real ones..."

Chaeyoung tosses her head and takes a deep breath, "That's why you need to study, it was their first purpose, but having a soulmate doesn't mean it has to be your opposite sex, it can be your friend or your brother... A soulmate is not always the one you fell in love with... It's something rare for this to happen and love is not only between a man or a woman... The Sages are only making sure to connect with the right people, to help them find their purpose...", Chaeyoung feels like a teacher in the middle school feeding the curious mind of kids.

"But how is everyone getting one? It's impossible to meet with every soul on the earth...", he looked at Chaeyoung who stopped typing again, to see her annoyed face, he smiled at her innocently

"The ritual you've read about is dedicated to the king's and queen's marriage... Since they are the proof of the balance and love gifted by God... For the rest of the people, they cast a spell meant to act as a compass that guides them to each other, eventually, they bond the moment they say "I do" to each other when they get married....", she was done with all his questions.

She throws him a book... " Now open on page 145, and start learning the rules for the ceremony of the Season of Rebirth"

He looked disappointed and with a sigh began to read. Chaeyoung felt a kind of sympathy for him, he was like a sulking puppy... Cute and so different from his brother... She understands that it's hard for him to learn all of this in such a short period, as well as accepting his role in all this situation.

"Next week we'll start learning the dance for the ceremony...", she reminded him

His attention got quickly averted to her, "Me and you? ", his eyes gleamed at the thought of practicing together.

"Yes..."

"That sounds like fun...", he said with a toothy smile.

~§~

"Fun my ass!", he muttered to himself annoyed at the big hanbok that they were trying to fit on him. It was too hot in it, it was big and uncomfortable. Now he starts to believe that they want him dead.

"Something is wrong Jungkook?", Ari asked him, she was there to oversee the preparations

"Where is Chae?"

"Ow, you call her Chae now?" she asked teasingly

He tried to think how to answer correctly as he needs to watch out what he is saying and doing, "Yeah, is something wrong with that?"

Ari signaled to the servants to leave, if they going to talk about him and Chaeyoung, then there is no place for prying ears.

" No, I am happy, you two usually are cold with each other... and don't try to lie, everyone in the Palace knows about your true relationship, maybe the accident changed your mindset...", she told him the ugly true

"Was I that bad to her?...", he went into his amnesiac role, Ari doesn't have to know the true, plus, this way he can find the information he needs

"Bad is not the right word... You just ignore her most of the time...", Ari seemed to say something more but she wasn't sure how it will affect him, so she chose to remain silent.

As for him, she saw regret on his face, "Can I do something for her, at least now?"

Ari smiled, her son seems to have matured, and maybe he will be able to change things between them, "You can! It was her birthday a few days ago and since you were in the hospital she decided not to celebrate... Maybe you can give her something...", it will be a simple gest but Ari is sure Chaeyoung will appreciate it.

"What did I miss?", Their heads turned toward the door, it was Chaeyoung.

~§~

On the other part of the palace, the king got a meeting with the head of security.

"Did you find anything?"

"Yes, there is evidence that someone was following him and tracking his locations, those guys are very good at it..."

"Who was it?"

"We still don't know... But my men are after one of them..."

"Good,... When you catch them, I want to see them too..."